With a textbook landing, the space shuttle Endeavour ended its maiden voyage Saturday, unfurling a red, white and blue drag chute to cheers and applause from a crowd estimated at more than 125,000.

The shuttle touched down on the base’s concrete runway just before 2 p.m., capping a nine-day mission highlighted by the rescue and repair of a wayward communications satellite.

NASA officials credited Wednesday’s daring rescue, where three crew members literally grabbed the 4-1/2-ton satellite, for helping to restore confidence in an agency whose image has been tarnished by a series of tragedies and miscues.

“To call what we witnessed anything less than extraordinary is a gross understatement,” said Leonard Nicholson, director of the space shuttle program at Johnson Space Center, Houston. “The entire shuttle team is up and ready for the challenges of the ’90s.” The crowd, the sixth largest to witness a shuttle landing, cheered the twin sonic booms announcing Endeavour’s arrival, and then burst into applause when the orbiter touched down and its chute deployed.

“Welcome to California,” Jim Halsell, a mission controller told Endeavour’s seven-member crew as the craft landed. “Congratulations on a spectacular and historic flight.”

Drawn by the attention attracted by the unique shuttle mission, the crowd was the largest to see a landing since the March 18, 1989, landing of Discovery, when 450,000 were on hand, according to NASA records.

“I was proud to see it land,” said Suzann Reina, 32, of Lancaster. “I was proud to see a part of our future. I used to work making shuttle parts. For me this was the ultimate.”

Endeavour’s mission was highlighted by its rendezvous with Intelsat-6, which had been trapped in a uselessly low orbit after its March 1990 launch by a Titan III rocket.

After several unsuccessful attempts to corral the satellite using a specially designed tool, crew members conducted the first three-man spacewalk, surrounding the craft like three legs of a tripod.

They grabbed the satellite in unison. The craft was then lowered onto a new rocket motor that propelled the satellite into its proper altitude, 22,300 miles above the Earth.

The consortium that owns the satellite paid the National Aeronautics and Space Administration $93 million for the rescue effort.

The crew performed a record fourth spacewalk Thursday to practice techniques for building a space station.

NASA officials said Endeavour appears in excellent shape. The $2 billion craft, built to replace Challenger, is the last shuttle NASA plans to build.

“The orbiter looks as great as the mission it just flew,” said Don Puddy, director of flight crew operations.

More than 8,500 students were invited to witness the landing as part of NASA’s effort to use Endeavour’s mission to stimulate interest in science and math. NASA had earmarked Endeavour for promoting education following the outpouring of concern following the Challenger disaster. Among the seven astronauts killed in the Challenger explosion was school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

“She would have been proud,” said Sean Williams, 17, of Bakersfield. “Even with the Challenger disaster she would have wanted space exploration to continue on.”

Before the landing, students looked at a mock-up of a space shuttle cockpit and talked with several astronauts, including Janice Voss, who spent a couple of hours signing autographs and answering questions for youngsters.

“With all the coverage of the spacewalk it has generated a lot of interest,” Voss said.

Endeavour was named by schoolchildren in a nationwide contest. The orbiter is named after the 18th century sailing ship commanded by Capt. James Cook. The shuttle carried into a space a piece of wood from the original ship.

Endeavour’s next mission is scheduled tentatively for September when it will take a space laboratory into orbit.

NASA officials said they do not yet have data on how effective the new drag chute was during the landing. Officials have proposed adding the chutes to all of the shuttles to help with braking and steering. Officials expect the chute will reduce the distance needed for landing by at least 1,000 feet.

The next shuttle mission will be a flight of NASA’s oldest shuttle, the 11-year-old Columbia, which is set for late June. Columbia also is scheduled to land at Edwards.